An Insane World
by TriceNorthman
Summary: Sookie and Amelia are coming back to home to spend the summer but their trip is not going to be what it seems and they'll have to open their minds to unexpected.
1. The Trip

Hello everybody!

I worked the first chapter of this story 'cause I was thinking about it for a long time and I needed to write it. The title is An Insane World because sometimes I believe we live in a world like that.

Hope you enjoy the new story and I promise to update as soon as possible.

All this characters belong to Charlaine Harris but the rest of the story is all mine.

Thanks a lot.

Have a nice week!

:)

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><p><strong>An Insane World<strong>

**Chapter One. The Trip**

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><p><strong>Sookie POV<strong>

"Are you sure this is the way?" I asked Amelia who looked very confident of herself. We had left the residence at Harvard early in the morning and it was going to be a long trip from Boston to New Orleans and then Bon Temps.

"Of course I am, Sook." She said sighing. "Don't worry, it's not the first time I do this." Yeah, I knew Amelia had come back home during the past year but she always took a flight so I wasn't quite sure it was a good idea to trust in her. "Also, I know exactly how to read a map. Stop worrying, we're on the right way."

"I would love to believe you," I said rolling my eyes, "I'm serious."

"Relax, Sookie. We'll be at home before you know it."

It wasn't so simple. We were over 1500 miles from home and we only had been in the car for a couple of hours.

"Y'know, we should have taken a flight."

Amelia just grinned and shook her head. "And where would have been the fun in that?" For Amelia everything had to be fun; it was the first and most important and I was surprised that she had passed the course with her lifestyle. There were always guys in her bed and she spent the night at parties in different fraternities and residences. How could she do it? "Think about this trip as an adventure, you know, a couple of friends travelling across this vast and beautiful country with the goal of returning home to spend a great summer. Besides, we have no luggage to carry."

That was true. We decided to send our bags by courier to avoid carrying so many things so we just had a couple of bags and our purses.

"This trip has been a good idea, Sookie, I promise."

Half an hour later my eyes began to weight like a ton and I fell asleep with my head against the window. Not the best position to sleep and I regretted it when I woke up with a terrible neck pain.

"Hello, sleepyhead," Amelia grinned at me as I finished waking up completely. I did not know how long I had slept but it was starting to get dark and we could barely see the road in front of us.

"How long did I sleep?"

"A couple of hours," she said without taking her eyes off the road. "I think you were exhausted. Did you have a bad night?" In fact I barely slept last night thinking about the long trip and I spent most of the night trying to get my mind blank and fall asleep.

"Yeah, couldn't sleep."

Amelia laughed slightly and nodded. "That's so typical of you. You never sleep the night before a trip. I think you get nervous in case you forget something or you're going to be late. But this time you couldn't be late 'cause the car was not going anywhere without us." Amelia was always so positive. I did not understand how she could be so awake after keeping driving for more than four hours.

"Want me to drive?" I asked waiting for her to tell me that she was exhausted but she simply shook her head. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, but I'm starving."

"Yep, me too."

"I've seen a couple of signs so it must have a service area nearby. We could stop for petrol, eat something and drink a big, delicious cup of coffee."

"Sounds great." Coffee was exactly what I needed to wake up completely but my stomach had other plans. We had breakfast before getting in the car but I was still hungry.

We drove for half an hour or so until we saw lights ahead us and parked the car outside the cafeteria. There were trucks, motorcycles and other cars parked nearby so we got out the car and I tried to stretch every muscle in my body at the same time.

"I'm so sore…" I said to Amelia while I was stretching.

"Yeah, me too." She closed the door and we walked into the diner.

It was the typical diner, with neon sign, waitresses wearing pale pink uniforms and most of the customers were men so when we walked into all of them looked at us. All but a man sitting at the furthest table. The lights barely lit him but I could see his deep and bright blue eyes staring at me.

"Sook, c'mon," Amelia and I sat in one of the empty tables and a waitress took our order. We both asked for the biggest burger they had with French fries and huge milkshakes. Yes, it was not the best diet but I was starving and we still had a long way to go.

"This burger is the best I've had in a long time," she said as she chewed and groaned at the same time. "It's amazing, I assure you."

"Ames, you've been vegetarian for too long." The burger was good but I definitely had them better. Amelia was always worried about what she ate and every guy she dated with had some characteristic she found out adorable and always seemed to adopt from them. Becoming a vegetarian was something she decided to try when her last boyfriend convinced her that was the healthiest way to eat without killing innocent animals.

"I know, but it was fun." Yes, it was especially fun when her boyfriend cheated on her with another guy and she decided to take revenge stealing all the vegetables in his freezer and feeding the animals in a zoo with them. "Those animals had never eaten green vegetables before."

We ate and laughed and I enjoyed immensely with my cup of coffee after dinner.

"We should go, it's getting late."

I looked once more toward the corner where I had seen the mysterious man but he was gone. For some reason I could not stop thinking about him – especially his eyes – but when we got in the car I just decided to forget it and focus on the road. Amelia was too tired to keep driving – although said she was fine – so I got behind the wheel and we continued our trip.

"Y'know, I really liked Leslie," she said suddenly.

I frowned and without taking my eyes off the road I asked. "Who is Leslie?" A man? A woman? Amelia did not lock doors to herself when it came to sex so I had to ask.

"Leslie, the vegetarian," she explained. Amelia used to giving nicknames to her partners so most of the time I did not know their names. "He was sweet and attentive," she sighed, "and handsome…he was very handsome."

"Yes, his boyfriend thought the same." I added, laughing.

"That was mean!" She exclaimed laughing. "You're a little bitch, Sookie Stackhouse."

"Not as much as you, Amelia Broadway."

We spent the next few minutes chatting and laughing like the good friends we were since we met in college. I had wanted all my life to get out of New Orleans and studying at Harvard. It was my goal in life and I spent the last year of high school without leaving home and buried under piles of books to get the scholarship that would allow me to study medicine in one of the best universities.

However, Amelia was there for very different reasons. She wanted to get away from New Orleans but especially wanted to get far away from her father, Copley Carmichael. He was a ruthless businessman who was always looking for the best chance to win the most money possible and wanted his daughter to be exactly like him. Unfortunately, Amelia had other plans and was always most interested in sex, have fun and spend her father's money without worries. But Copley was not willing to let Amelia being an obstacle so when he told her to change her lifestyle, marrying to one of his partners and raise a family it was too much for her and she left home. She had enough money to do _anything_ and decided to go to Boston and study literature at Harvard.

"I'm so glad we're in this together," she said waving her hand between us. "I would not have done it with anyone else." If I hadn't been in front of her having dinner I'd swear she was drunk but unless she did it without me notice Amelia hadn't drunk a drop of alcohol.

I was sure it was just one of her moments of talking about feelings so I just nodded in silence.

"You're my best friend, Sookie, you are like my sister and you don't know how much I appreciate you let me stay at your home in Bon Temps because I couldn't bear to come back to home and see my father."

"I know, Ames."

"He doesn't understand me." I had heard those same words many times before and I knew the rest of the story word for word but Amelia obviously wanted to tell me again so I act as a good friend and just listened to her. "I'm not even sure he's my father at all."

"He's your father, Ames."

"I know," she sighed dramatically, "but we are _soooo_ different… We have never been able to understand each other, not even when my mother died." If I had learned something since I knew Amelia was that she and her mother were very close. "She always got everything to be normal at home, y'know, we were a normal family but when she died…I dunno, I think everything else died with her."

"Ames, you and your father are very different, that's all."

"No, it is much more than that. I know he can't stand me and we've barely spoken since I left. He called me a couple of times but I said that I was too busy with classes and stuff so they were just a few minutes." I knew Copley had tried to maintain contact with his daughter even if she had gone so far from home but Amelia tended to be too stubborn so none of them would apologize to the other.

"Don't worry about that now, 'kay?" I said as I squeezed her hand tightly. "We're in this together, we've always been together and when we are in Bon Temps will continue being together."

"You promise?" She asked, smiling weakly.

"Of course I promise."

Amelia fell asleep minutes after our conversation and I turned on the radio to distract me. It was hard to find good music but I finally found a classic rock station and I hummed with Rolling Stones until the song ended.

Although I knew Copley was concerned about his daughter I was not going to get on his side against Amelia. She needed me and needed a friend who heard her and that was me.

I hated driving at night and especially on a road next to a forest. It was like out of a movie and we had not crossed with any other car since we got back to the road after dinner.

It was weird.

Amelia woke up an hour later and looked out the car window even though it was too dark to see anything.

"Where are we?" she asked as put her feet on the dashboard. "I didn't see that forest before."

"Yeah, I know, it's immense."

Suddenly lights appeared in the rear mirror and realized it was the first time I saw another car on this road since we left the café.

"I haven't snored, have I?"

I couldn't help chuckling. "No, you haven't snored." No matter the time or place, Amelia could always make me laugh with a single comment. "But I'm glad you're awake, driving alongside that forest is making me nervous."

"Why? It's only a forest."

"I know, but…it's like there's something more." I said laughing. "I can't explain it and it's probably nonsense."

But I kept thinking there was something else. Maybe I read too many stories and seen a lot of horror movies and I was letting myself go for it on a lonely road, with a creepy and dark forest around us.

"Don't worry, besides, we're not alone on this road." She said indicating with her thumb the other car. "I don't think this forest is so big but…" and suddenly the car made a strange noise and smoke started coming out of the hood.

"Oh my god…" we said at the same time as the car behind disappeared leaving us abandoned in the middle of nowhere. Suddenly the forest seemed more frightening and we couldn't see anything around us. "What the fuck has happened?"

"Calm down, Sookie." Amelia was trying to stay calm but I was sure she was just as scared as me. "I'll try to call someone."

"Who are you gonna call? We don't know anyone who can help us…wherever we are. We can not call anyone!"

"Sookie, calm down!" she said firmly. "We can call the police and…"

"And say what? We have no fucking idea where we are. Damn! We are lost in the middle of fucking nowhere and the car is broken. What the hell are we going to do?" I was hysterical, especially pissed because I could not believe this was really happening. "We can't call anyone, Amelia. We are alone."

"I know we're alone, Sookie, but we can't our heads, okay?" I tried to breathe normally but it was not something easy. "We need to calm down and think about something, okay?"

"Okay." But I could not think of a solution. I did not think there was any way to get out of this road without a car and I did not like the idea of walking in the dark. "What do we do?" I asked more calmly.

Amelia stared at me and I knew she had no idea what we were going to do.

"We should leave the car here." She said no more.

My eyes opened wide. "What?" I thought I was imagining things.

"We can't stay in the car and wait to miraculously fix itself." The car was safe. Walking through a lonely road was a bad idea. "We can write a note and leave it on the windshield in case anyone finds the car, y'know, a phone number."

"No!" I yelled. Amelia looked at me like I was crazy but at least I was not thinking of absurd ideas. "We can't leave the car and walk no more, okay? We have no idea where we are and it's too dark."

"Alright, what do we do then?" she asked me. "Because we can't stay here forever, Sookie."

That was a good question. What were going to do?

"We can take a look at the engine, maybe it's nothing serious and…"

"Sookie, do you know anything about cars? 'Cause I don't know a shit about cars." Why she couldn't have dated with a mechanic who had taught her to fix a damn car? I was beginning to lose my temper. "Hey, let's face it, none of us would be able to fix the engine and I don't anyone is going to appear to help us so I'm afraid we're alone in this."

I did not like this at all. It was like the plot of a bad terror movie in which two girls are in the middle of a road not knowing what to do and waiting for a madman appearing from the forest with a chainsaw.

"We gotta go." She said staring at me.

"I don't want to walk out there, we don't know if there's some place close and it's dark."

"Hey, I know this sucks, okay? But we have no more options." She took my hand and smiled. "We are together, that's what matters, and while we're together we'll be fine, alright?"

I could only nod.

Amelia was right, we couldn't stay in the car waiting for someone to come to our rescue so we took our stuff, left the car unlocked and the keys inside and wrote a note with both phone numbers and began walking in the same direction we had been driving.

"Are you okay?" Amelia asked me while we were walking hand in hand.

"Yeah."

"Don't worry, Sook, sooner or later we'll arrive at some café or gas station and someone will help us, okay?"

"Okay."

We walked and walked and walked and the temperature was colder. Luckily we had a couple of thick jackets with us and we put them on to keep walking.

"I can't believe it's so cold in June, it's weird." I said as I rubbed my hands together for warmth.

"I know, but as long as we keep walking we'll be fine. Don't worry, it'll be dawn soon and we'll get to see something on this damn road."

I was exhausted, starving and my feet were killing me but I knew Amelia was feeling like me and she did not say a word about it. I wanted to be positive and believe we would arrive to a place where someone would help us, we'd get the car back and return to Bon Temps remembering all this as a simple story.

"We should get some rest," Amelia said, stopping and throwing her bag on the ground. We decided to sit and rest for a minute and think about what was happening. "This is crazy, isn't it?" she muttered laughing. "I feel like an idiot right now sitting here in the middle of…nothing and freezing my ass when…well, I think I messed things up."

"What are you talking about?" I asked her confused.

"You wanted to fly home." She said, sighing heavily. "I'm so sorry, Sookie, we should have caught a plane and at this time we'd be at home, sleeping and yet…" She began to mourn and I knew she felt guilty about what was happening.

"Ames…hey, I don't blame you for this, okay?" I whispered as I put my arm around her shoulders. "None of us could have known this was going to happen, do you understand? So I don't want you to feel guilty or cry for all this 'cause it's been nobody's fault." Of course if we had flown to home none of this would have happened but I was sure Amelia was feeling too guilty so I decided not to say a word about it. "Don't worry about anything. Nothing's going to happen and I'm sure we'll find a way to get out of here, okay? Surely dawn will be less frightening." And we laughed like fools.

"Come on, we must keep walking." I got off the ground, wiped my pants and helped her up. "Let's get out of this damn road."

We kept walking, faster this time, and still holding hands. We had to support each other as we had always done and more than ever now.

"Don't tell my father about this, okay?" She laughed. "'Cause I'm sure he would remember it for the rest o my life and I assure you that I couldn't stand it." I couldn't but chuckle because at least we were still keeping our sense of humor.

"Yeah, I'm sure he would." And we kept walking.

"But right I would like to say him that I'm not a little girl anymore," she began, "y'know, I know how to take care of myself and I don't need him or his money to keep living my life like I'm doing it."

"Parents can be insane, Ames, we both know that."

"No." She answered quickly. "Your parents aren't. Your family's great, Sookie, is the kind of family I've always wanted. Your Gran…god, when I'm with her is like being with my own grandmother. She treats me like she knows me perfectly and makes me feel loved. It's something I've never felt before with my father." I wanted to tell her that she'd always be welcome in my house and she could stay forever but I was sure she already knew that.

"Y'know, my parents are overprotective with me and that was always something bothered me." I said trying to change the subject. Amelia was feeling very bad and I wanted to cheer her up. "Jason did everything he wanted all the time and they never punish him for it but I just couldn't go anywhere alone. It was kind of frustrating."

"Jason knows how to defend himself," and we laughed at the same time. "Besides, what would make a girl alone in Bon Temps?" My family had an old and huge house there and I loved it. "There are not many places to go."

"Hey! Bon Temps is not so boring." I said trying to defend the few fun things you could do in a small town. "And Shreveport's close and fun."

"Then why did you live in New Orleans until you went to college?"

"Okay, you're right. But I love Bon Temps, can't help it." I said sighing and remembering all the good times I had lived there since childhood. "There are not gossip neighbours bothering you all the time, I can get up later in the morning and my Gran always makes pancakes for breakfast."

"You can also sunbathe naked," Amelia said quickly."

"What?" I asked, laughing. "Please don't tell me you did that when we were there last summer." Amelia was able to do _anything_ but I doubted she'd be able to sunbathe naked with my brother around.

"I did."

I burst out laughing while trying to remember when she'd be able to do it. We were always together and sunbathe was one of my vices so most of the time we had done it at the same time.

"When?"

Amelia smiled wickedly at me and I was not quite sure what that meant. "Do you remember the day when you and your dad were to Shreveport to buy a chainshaw?"

"Yeah…" I said doubtfully. It was a great day. I loved spending time with my dad and after buying the chainsaw we went for ice cream. "Please don't tell me it was then."

"Yeah, Gran and your mom went to buy and…"

We were laughing non-stop, remembering the good times we had spent last summer when suddenly heard a strange noise that seemed to come from within the forest.

"Shhh…" Amelia shushed me and we froze, without moving a muscle and holding our breath. "Did you hear that?" It was a noise I could not explain, as if it were a breath but was something else. Something different. And it sounded very close.

"What the hell was that?" I asked in a whisper.

Amelia just shook her head and we moved until we were in the middle of the road.

"We gotta go." I couldn't agree more.

We began to walk fast – until we chose to run hand in hand – but that strange noise seemed to follow us everywhere. It was as if it were on our side, behind and in front of us at the same time.

"Run, Sookie, run!" We were running as fast as we could but everything seemed useless, when suddenly I felt something behind about to reach us and lights getting closer until I pushed Amelia and I to the ground before a truck run over us.

We were on the ground, not knowing what was going on and it was then when someone got out from the truck with a shotgun and fired several times up in the air.

"Are you okay?" He asked, and although I couldn't see his face I nodded vigorously. "Get in the truck." It was him. The mystery man at the café, the same man who had looked at me with those piercing blue eyes.

"Ames, come on, get up."

"Sook, what happened?" Amelia could hardly talk after what had happened so I helped her up off the ground, grabbed our stuff and got in the truck. In any other situation I'd been afraid – terrified actually – to get in the truck of a stranger on a desolate road but I'd have done it a thousand times that night.

"What the hell was that?" I asked to our mysterious savior while Amelia was laying in the back seat resting. She had beaten her head but after checking she was out we left from there as fast as we could. "Who are you?"

He did not answer and I began thinking that maybe had not been a good idea to get on that truck.

"Thanks," I whispered while was looking down to my lap.

"I'm Eric."

"Sookie." I looked to the backseat and saw Amelia's eyes were closed. "And she's Amelia." His eyes never left the road and although I felt better because I wasn't walking down the road, we knew nothing of this man or his intentions. I knew nothing but I had to ask.

"What was that?"

Eric did not immediately respond but frowned and I knew he was thinking of an answer.

"Nobody knows."

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said." He replied dryly.

"Well, I know it was something alive 'cause I could feel its breath and it moved quickly. It was like being everywhere at once." Maybe if I told him what I knew he would give me some answers. "Whatever was that thing, was stalking us."

"You're alive, you should be glad."

"I am. Believe me, I'm glad I left that road and having survived whatever that thing is but I need to know what it was. What the hell was that thing and why was it watching us?"

"The evil."

"What?" I almost whispered.

His eyes were blocked on mine and I could feel them as if they were inside of me.

"That thing is the evil."

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><p>I really hope this is not too insane for you to read but I promise it'll get interesting in a few more chapters.<p>

:)


	2. The Evil

Hi there!

I was writing in all my stories at the same time so my head is going to explode right now but at least I finished this new chapter and published it before I had another chance, hahaha.

Thanks so much for reviewing the first one and hope you enjoy this as well.

Charlaine Harris belongs all this, y'know, characters and all that stuff, but the story is all MINE.

Thanks a lot.

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><p><strong>Chapter Two. The Evil<strong>

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><p><strong>Sookie POV<strong>

"The evil? What…what does that mean? What do you mean?" I was not sure if he was serious or just wanted to scare me but I did not like at all hearing him saying those words. "Eric, what are you talking about?"

He was cold as ice or at least that was what he wanted me to think but I could see his hands gripping the wheel tightly and his knuckles turning white.

I ventured myself to keep talking aware that at any time he could stop the truck and kick us out on the road again but I had to. I needed to know what he meant. "Hey, I know you think we're just two naïve girls whose car broke down in the middle of this road but I know there was something in the woods and I know that…well, it wasn't human. Or maybe it was, I don't know, but I know there was something out there," I said, pointing to the woods on our side, "and I want to know what it is."

"You don't really wanna know," he hissed without even looking at me.

"Yes, I want to."

Eric shook his head and chuckled. "You're right about one thing," and I hoped he kept talking, "you're just a kid who has no idea what's happening around you so don't tell me that you really want to know what's going on because I don't think you want." He added dryly.

This guy started to get on my nerves. "You don't even know me!" I yelled and immediately lowered my voice to avoid startle Amelia. "I know what you're trying to do, buddy," I said as if I really had any idea, "you're just the typical country boy who thinks he knows everything and treats others like idiots. Well, I'll tell you one thing, fellow, I'm not an innocent little girl and I know what's going on around me. I know there's something out there and it's big and probably dangerous and was about to reach us before you showed up out of nowhere firing your gun."

Eric just chuckled again and my wish to slap him was becoming more and more intense.

"What are you laughing at?" I hissed. "Do you think this is funny? Or maybe this is just a stupid joke and you're the one behind everything."

This time he laughed out loud and the truck stopped suddenly. If he was going to let us on the road again we were fucked up and everything was my fault.

"You are brave talking like that, I'll give you that," he said staring at me. "But I assure you this is no joke, okay? What you think it is in the woods is very real and frightening."

"What it is?"

"You could not understand it."

"Try me."

He opened his mouth to say something else but Amelia woke up at that moment and her eyes moved from mine to Eric's, knowing something was happening between us.

"Why have we stopped?" she asked in surprise. "Please tell me we don't have to walk that road again."

"No, Ames," I said with a smile. "Everything's okay."

Eric started the truck and we kept our way though I still had a lot of questions and needed answers, not the cryptic messages he liked to say all the time.

"I think my head's going to explode," Amelia groaned. "What happened?"

"You hit your head against the ground." I explained without giving further details. "What's the last thing you remember?"

She frowned a few times. "We were running, do you remember?" She nodded slightly but I was sure if she remembered why. "Something…was following us…" I said with a whisper and then her eyes opened wide.

"Yeah! Something was following us…what was it?" That was exactly what I had been trying to find out since we got in Eric's truck but to get answers from him was going to be harder than it looked. "Sook, what was that thing?"

I just told her the truth while was watching Eric from the corner of my eye. "I dunno, Ames."

"And you?" she asked looking at Eric. "You know something, don't you?" I knew Eric wouldn't say a word so I turned around, smiled at her and squeezed her hand.

"It doesn't matter, Ames."

Maybe Eric was right and I did not really want to know what was going on but a part of me kept thinking about it. If it hadn't been for him that thing would have reached us and we could be injured or dead. "Eric's been very kind to take us with me and it'll be dawn soon so don't worry about anything, okay?" At least I expected so. I hadn't seen any service area or gas station since we got in the truck, but Eric did not seem worried about it.

"Do you know if there's any nearby bus station?" I asked as I looked toward the road. "You've been kind but we must find a way to get to New Orleans."

"No stations around here." He just said and kept staring straight ahead. God, he couldn't be more rude.

"And how are we supposed to get there?" I asked to myself but he sighed and looked at me for a second.

"I don't know."

"Great…" I muttered pissed. "Hey, Ames and I left a sign in our car with our phone numbers so if you know a mechanic who could fix the car…I'd be very grateful."

"Your car is no longer there."

I decided to risk it and keep asking him questions even though his answers left me more confused than before. "What do you mean by that? I don't think my car is going to disappear."

"Someone will make it disappear and you should pray that this _sign_ with your phone numbers flies away before someone finds it because it's the most stupid think you could have done."

"What is your fucking problem?" I asked, unable to contain myself any longer. Amelia had fallen asleep again and I realized I was yelling at him but I didn't care a shit. "What the hell is wrong with you? You don't even know me and still you treat me like I'm an idiot."

Eric chuckled again, and glared at me. "I don't need to know you to know that you have no fucking idea how the world works. Do you think everyone's willing to help others?" He asked, laughing sarcastically. "Please, that shit can work in New Orleans or wherever you two were coming from but you can't trust everyone, Sookie."

"I understand that, okay?"

"You think so?" He asked, arching an eyebrow. "If you'd really understand it you wouldn't have written your fucking phone number in that damn sign for everyone to see it."

"I'm sorry!" I yelled at him and suddenly I felt like a complete idiot for doing it but it was Amelia's idea. "We didn't know what to do, okay? We were scared in the middle of nowhere and our car was broken so I lost my nerve and did not know what else to do. Was that what you wanted to hear? Well, you heard it, you can now keep telling me how stupid I am." I huffed and turned my head to not look at him.

The tension could be cut with a knife and the only times I turned were to check if Amelia was still sleeping or if she was okay. I did not want to look at or speak to him and although I knew it was childish I didn't want to admit it.

"No one has seen it clearly." I heard Eric's voice whispering. At first I did not move a muscle because I decided to ignore him was the best choice but it seemed this was his way to apologize to me.

"What?" I replied, whispering as well.

"That thing." He added. "Nobody really knows what it looks like or what it is."

"And what do _you_ think it is?"

He shrugged and remained silent. I was starting to get really tired of his attitude.

"C'mon, you know a lot about this and showed up on the road at the very precise moment…y'know, so don't tell me you haven't got a clue what it can be."

"It has no a particular name, or at least I think so." He took a deep breath and looked at me. "People don't know what to call it but some old men say they've been feeling it since they were kids."

"Feel it?"

"Yeah, you know, as a presence that's always there but you can't really see." Had I crossed the limits of normal at some point? I couldn't help laughing when I heard him. "You think it's funny, Sookie?" He asked in a voice as cold as ice.

"Well…" I laughed again while I was trying to understand what was happening. "I dunno, this is like a sci-fi movie, you know, and I can hardly believe you're talking seriously about that."

"I'm doing it." He replied dryly.

I nodded, thinking how ridiculous all this looked but couldn't help but believe that he was telling me the truth. After what had happened a few hours ago I could at least hear his story.

"Alright, we suppose for a moment that I'm believing all of this, okay? If that thing actually exists and has been here for so long, y'know, hiding in the woods, how is that possible that nobody has ever seen it?" I said shrugging. "I'm sure there are hunters in the area and they should have seen something, perhaps moving through the trees or feeding on animals."

"This woods is huge, Sookie." He said without further explanation.

"Yeah, I already know that. But this is absurd, okay?" I said trying to stay calm. "Nothing can hide for so long without being seen." Or was I wrong?

"It's very fast." And when I was going to talk he cut me off. "Faster than anything you can imagine. Trucks can't cross through the woods so you have to walk. Hunters leave their vehicles near the front line of tress and venture into the woods but no one dares to go beyond the river."

"What river?"

"It can't be heard from the road." He added quickly. "There's a river running through the woods but it's too far to cross over and come out before it is dark. No one ever has been in the woods after sunset. Everyone knows it."

It was too much information to assimilate and my eyes began weighing a ton to keep awake.

"You should get some sleep," Eric said softly, "there are still a few hours till dawn."

I didn't know how or when but when I woke up I was in the backseat with my head on Amelia's lap and a huge gray jacket covering most of my body.

"Morning," Amelia whispered and saw that indeed it was daylight. I had no idea how exhausted I was until I closed my eyes.

"Where are we?" I asked sitting up and looking around. There was only a small motel next to a gas station.

"He said we should stay here." Amelia said no more. "And I decided to do it." She said rolling her eyes.

"How's your head?"

"I'm fine."

"Let me see." I checked there were no injuries but it was beginning to look bad. "I should go in there and buy ice for your head."

"Don't worry, Sook, I'm fine."

We sat there looking around and even though the woods wouldn't look so scary in the morning I was wrong. I was waiting for something to appear out of the trees and attack us but the only noise I heard was Amelia's door opening and I jumped.

"Get out." Eric said no more and we took out things before getting out.

"What are we doing here?" I asked as I took off the jacket to give him.

"Keep it," he said and kept walking. "I've been driving all night and I need some sleep. We'll stay a few hours and then go away."

So Ames and I were sharing a room while Eric stayed in the next. It wasn't a very clean place but at least the bed was comfy and I got to relax a little.

"What's about this guy?" Ames said with a chuckle "He barely talks and he looks like…well, I don't really know what he looks like but he's hot."

"Amelia!" Only her could think about that with Eric despite he had been rude all the time.

"What? He's really hot and keeps looking at you."

"Please…he's a jerk." Although of course I had noticed he was hot. "He's been rude to me while you were asleep. He's not my type."

Amelia burst out laughing and grinned widely at me. "Your type? And what's your type exactly?" She asked chuckling. "Sook, you are 19 and still a virgin, so what are you waiting for?"

"I don't wanna talk about that."

"Sook, you're my best friend and I love you but you should realize men around you look at you all the time and you don't even realize. Besides, Eric looks at you as if he wanted to bite you."

"Shut up!" I yelled while laughing together. I missed talking to my best friend like that and having a good time and I felt as if had been months without laughing since last night. "If you like him so much you should flirt with him." And I threw her the pillow.

"You can deny it all you want," she said laying down in the bed next to me, "but I'm sure in that future doctor's brain of yours there are much hotter feelings than you want to admit," and we laughed out loud forgetting everything had happened in the last hours.

We finally fell asleep next to each other, as we had done it in college many times, and I was the first to wake up when I heard someone knocking at the door.

I got up slowly, quietly not to wake Amelia and tiptoed to the door. I didn't even looked at myself in the mirror before opening the door and there was Eric staring at me without moving a muscle.

"Hi." I said not knowing what else to say.

"We should go. It's past noon and we'll just have three or fours of light."

"Okay, just give me ten minutes to wake Amelia and collect our things, okay?" Eric just nodded and walked away towards the truck.

I closed the bedroom door and went to bed.

"Ames, Amelia, wake up, c'mon, we gotta go." Amelia groaned and hugged the pillow but I wasn't going to waste time so while I was picking up all our stuff I kept insisting on her. "Amelia, wake up please. Eric's been here and we gotta go." She finally opened her eyes and got out of bed. We took turns in the bathroom and I then returned to the bedroom to try to do something with my hair so I got rid of the ponytail and did my best to fix it.

"Are you finished? I shouted and a second later she left the bathroom."

"Yeah."

"C'mon, I've collected all our stuff so let's go."

We both had changed clothes and although it was still daylight it was cold so I buttoned my sweater and put on Eric's jacket.

"Nice jacket," Amelia whispered while laughing when we were on our way to the truck and that's when I realized Eric was wearing just a sleeveless t-shirt and showing his strong and muscular arms to me. For some reason I couldn't stop looking at them and when Amelia pushed me slightly to get in the truck was when I finally looked away and blushed.

"You okay, Sook?"

I nodded without saying a word and sat in the backseat, just behind the passenger seat to avoid Eric watching me in the rearmirror. I wasn't in the mood for his accusing looks or sarcastic comments.

How could have things got so complicated? Less than one day Amelia and I were leaving Boston to begin a long trip back to home. We had big plans for the summer and I even hoped to convince Ames to make a brief stop in New Orleans and visit her father before getting to Bon Temps. I was not sure if I'd get it but now all I could think of was to get out of this damn truck and not seeing Eric again.

We were in the truck for a couple of hours and it was starting to get dark and there were huge clouds on the sky.

"What the fuck is going on here with the weather?" Amelia asked, confused and pissed. "If I had known I'd freeze my ass every night I'd have brought ski clothes."

I couldn't help chuckling and Eric turned slightly to look at me and that's when I realized he was smiling and he really had a beautiful smile. His jaw was really sexy and masculine when he smiled and his eyes seemed to shine with greater intensity.

_Hold on, what the hell was happening to me? _I hated this man and his rudeness. Why suddenly couldn't help admiring his eyes and smile?

_Damn Amelia…_

"Sookie, are you still with us?" That's when I heard Amelia's voice and I had no idea what had happened. "You okay?"

I nodded and sank down into the seat so neither of them could see that I was beginning to blush. I did not understand the reason and wanted to forget all Amelia said last night, especially her comments about Eric.

"We're reaching a nearby town, it's small but we'd better spend the night there rather than keep driving." Eric said to nobody in particular.

"Why?" I asked timidly.

"The road is not safe in this area and driving at night is dangerous so we'll wait until it'd daytime." About twenty minutes later we arrived at what should be the town Eric had talked about but I really expected…more. Just a dozen of small houses, a café and a gas station which seemed to be abandoned.

"Where the hell did you bring us?" Amelia asked angry. "There's not shit in here."

"Calm down…" Eric said quietly.

"Do not tell me to calm down, damn it!" Amelia began to be hysterical and it was not a good sign. "I won't spend a fucking minute in this dump."

"Ames, calm down, please…"

"Don't tell me to calm down, Sookie! Not you! Fuck!" She practically shouted at me. "It's ridiculous that we're going to spend the night here when we could keep driving." And then she glared at Eric. "What do you want to do with us?"

"Ames, please shut up!" I hated having to yell at her but she was driving me insane. "I'm sure if Eric says this road is dangerous he's right, okay?" She looked at me like I'd betrayed her but I wasn't going to allow her to manipulate me. "Don't look at me like that, okay?" I said, staring at her, "you know I'm right and it's not going to happen anything, alright?"

Amelia relaxed but I couldn't help feeling like a traitor. "I can't believe it…" she murmured to herself and rolled her eyes.

"Okay, where are we gonna to sleep?" I asked and Eric chuckled. I had a bad feeling about this. "What? Did I say something funny?"

Eric turned and looked at me and I was waiting for him to say something sarcastic or treat me like a child again but he did not. "I'm afraid there are no motels in this town."

"Okay…" I said doubting.

"So we'll have to spend the night in the truck." He added before Amelia or I realized that we were going to sleep all three of us together.

"What!" Amelia yelled. "No fucking way!"

"Ames…"

"No, Sookie," she cut me off. "I don't care what this guy says, okay? I won't sleep here with him and spend the night in this fucking and creepy town."

"Then sleep in the back seat." I said firmly. "Hey, I prefer to sleep in the truck or spending the night awake, I don't care, but I will not discuss it again." I got out of the truck to stretch my legs and that's when I realized several pairs of eyes were looking from the gas station, the café and some of the houses.

Suddenly I no longer felt the need to stay out there so I opened the door, got in and closed it as quickly as possible.

"What is it?" Amelia asked without even looking at me.

I could not answer to her because I had a bad feeling, the kind that you know something bad, really bad, is going to happen and you can't still do anything about it.

"Sookie, are you okay? What is it?" Amelia turned and stared at me. "Are you sick?" When she looked closely to me she realized that something more serious was happening. "Oh god…you're pale, Sook." Eric stood staring straight ahead, what a surprise.

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not. Sookie, tell me _right now_ what's going on." Amelia said firmly and got out of the truck before I could yell at her not to do it but it was too late. However she didn't go far away, she just opened my door and sat down beside me.

"Please, close the door."

Amelia looked at me and closed the door quickly, waiting for an answer. "Sook, is something wrong?"

I shook my head trying to clear my thoughts. "I dunno, but I do not like this place. It gives me bad vibes."

Amelia smiled and stroked my cheek with the back of her hand. "Don't worry, okay? Nothing's gonna happen." She kept stroking my cheek. "We're just tired and exhausted by all that's happening, right?" I nodded. "Nothing more."

I nodded again but did not believe a word. I wanted to think Amelia was right and convince myself that I was having hallucinations but I was sure I had not imagined all those looks when I got out from the truck.

"Do you think we could get something to eat at the diner?" Amelia asked Eric but he remained still, silent and looking around. "Eric?"

"Eric!"

Eric finally reacted and looked at us with a blank expression. "What?"

"We're starving. I think we could all go to that café and eat, what do you think?" Eric just nodded and we all got out the truck but I did not like the idea of this people keep watching us.

"C'mon Sook," she took my hand and walked a few steps behind Eric.

Things – obviously – did not improve when we walked into the diner and all customers were watching us, especially Amelia and me, and did not return to their business until we sat on a table further away from them.

"What's going on?" Amelia realized things were not as normal as she thought minutes ago. Perhaps my paranoia was contagious. "This place is weird, really weird, and all look at us like we're…" Amelia was whispering until Eric leaned forward and stared at us.

"We are outsiders, do you understand?" Eric said seriously. "This is a very small town and I'm sure we've already called enough attention so we'd better go unnoticed until we leave tomorrow morning. Forget about raising the voice or gaze at any of these people, alright?" We both nodded and my whole body tensed as if I could feel a pair of eyes burning a hole in my head.

"Why?" I asked whispering as well, "why do I have the feeling that something pretty weird and probably bad is happening here? I know you know something I want to hear the truth." If I was going to spend the night in this place at least I had the right to know what was going on.

Eric looked around him for a few seconds saying nothing. "Not here. We'll talk later." For the first time I did not say a word against him.

I was starving but I could hardly eat anything and waited for Amelia to finish her meal before going together to the restroom.

As soon as Amelia closed the door behind her I released the breath I did not know I'd been holding and washed my face several times until I managed to breathe normally again.

"Sookie, are you okay?"

I couldn't help laughing sarcastically. "Okay? No, Ames, I am not okay. I have no idea where we are but I don't like this place. It's as if all these people were planning something and we are part of that damn plan."

"What plan?" Amelia put her arm around my shoulders and smiled at me in the mirror. "Listen, we just got here, we're in this fucking town for less than two hours so no one could know we were coming, do you understand? Besides, Eric seems convinced that everything's okay so…"

"You're right," I said, trying to calm down, "nothing's gonna happen."

Ames and I waited for Eric in the diner while he was in the gas station and did exactly what he said. We sat there in silence, without attracting attention and looking at anything or anyone.

"Ready?" Eric asked and I almost jumped when I heard his voice.

"Yeah, let's go."

Fortunately Eric decided it'd be a good idea to go a little far away from the town to avoid suspicion so he stopped the truck far enough for us to see the gas station without being seen.

I could not wait a second longer; I placed myself between the two front seats and looked at Eric.

"Okay, we're alone now, tell me, what's happening and why seems that we are in danger?"

"Because we are." He said simply. Amelia and I looked at each other as if we were not understanding anything and actually we weren't understanding anything.

"What do you mean?" I insisted. "How can we be in danger in a place we've never been before? This is ridiculous. Maybe it's just because we're outsiders." Eric chuckled again but I was not in the mood for his shit. I was scared, pissed off and wanted to get out of here soon. "Stop doing that!" I yelled at him and a second later I felt terrible. "Sorry." Eric just nodded and stared at me. "Hey, I'm a little nervous 'cause I feel something bad is going to happen and I assure you that I hate feeling this way, okay? So, please," and looked quickly at Amelia, "please, tell us the truth."

"These people are not like you or me, you understand? They haven't the same beliefs or moral that we could have and I assure you that they're not good Samaritans."

"What are you talking about?" I was trying to maintain my voice normal and not let the fear dominates me.

"Remember our conversation last night?" I nodded and he did the same.

"What conversation?" Amelia asked watching them both.

"Hold on, Ames, I promise I'll tell you everything later. Eric, please continue."

"Remember when I said nobody had ever seen it?" I nodded again, trying to keep my composure. "It's not entirely true." I did not know whether to be relieved or terrified. "I'm sure none of you ever bothered to find this place on a map before but if you've done it'd have been useless."

"Why?" I asked quickly.

"It doesn't exist."

Amelia snorted. "That's bullshit." Eric and I looked at her and she laughed. "It doesn't exist? Come on, that's ridiculous. This place exists 'cause we are in it so stop inventing horror stories, okay?"

"It doesn't exist on the maps, it never has."

"Why not?" Amelia asked. "Come on, tell me, who would want to hide a small town in the middle of nowhere when no one could find it? Don't they like tourism?"

"It's not that."

"And what is it?" Amelia insisted. "Sookie, please, tell me you're not believing all this shit."

"I dunno, Ames…" Amelia opened her eyes wide. "Listen, the night Eric found us I heard sounds, like breathing…"

"Sookie…"

"No, Ames. They were real, okay? You may not remember it 'cause you hit your head but I was there when I heard it." She just shook her head. "I assure you it was all very real and if it hadn't been for Eric we would probably not be here now so let him talk. Please." Amelia rolled her eyes and stopped talking.

"Why is the town hidden?" I asked Eric and he hesitated for a second before continuing speaking.

"Sacrifices are not well seen."

* * *

><p>Hope you liked this chapter and I'll wait for your reviews, ideas or whatever you want to share with me.<p>

Have a nice week!


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